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Milan Zemina/Czech Institute of Archaeology

Timeless, serene, these four canopic jars—used to store the deceased’s soft inner organs in the process of mummification—were found next to a huge limestone sarcophagus in a tomb 80 feet below the Egyptian desert at Abusir. Text incised on the jars identifies the sixth-century B.C. tomb’s owner, whose mummy was found inside the sarcophagus, as “Iufaa, Administrator of the Palaces.” The jars still contained resin used to preserve Iufaa’s viscera.